Did they know? Did Marc Bergevin, Peter Chiarelli, David Poile, Ray Shero and Steven Stamkos know they were going to set the NHL on its ear one early summer afternoon?

“We knew what we were doing but had no idea what everyone else was up to,” New Jersey GM Shero said last weekend. “You know this is going to get out, so we’re trying to get hold of Adam Larsson. All of a sudden, you hear the other moves, and you’re like, ‘Holy (Bleep).’”

“July 1 is a landslide, but you expect it,” said Chiarelli, Edmonton’s President of Hockey Operations and GM. “The last thing you’re thinking about is someone else’s deal. We had the TV on, and the moves came across the ticker. I did a double-take. Wow.”

“In my world, none of that other stuff mattered,” laughed Poile, Nashville’s President of Hockey Operations and GM. “I still don’t know the order of the three moves.”

At 2:34 p.m. ET on Wednesday July 29 — seven minutes after intense speculation about Taylor Hall hit Twitter — his trade to the Devils for Larsson was a reality. It’s almost impossible to believe there could be a bigger one-for-one deal in the same afternoon, but 17 minutes later came an absolute blockbuster: Shea Weber for P.K. Subban.

Then, at 2:57 p.m., word came that #Stammergeddon was over. Steven Stamkos stayed in Tampa.

Fans of the Edmonton Oilers are lucky in that between the two radio stations, 630 CHED and TSN 1260, we get to hear commentary from some of the wisest heads in hockey, including five of my favourites, Craig Simpson, Mike Johnson, Craig Button, Adam Oates and Ray Ferraro.

This past week all five weighed in on the Adam Larsson-for-Taylor Hall trade. In case you missed what they had to say to hosts Bob Stauffer of CHED and Jason Gregor of Team 1260, here are some of the highlights:

Craig Simpson on Oilers Now: “I felt there was a real sense of need (to acquire a defenceman). There was a real sense of anxiousness to make something happen so at least you fill a hole that you’ve not been able to fill for a long time… You’re forced in that situation to put in a guy that we all hope will fill that role...

Ray Ferraro on TSN1260: “Clearly the best player in the deal went East. There’s not any question about that. I mean I was surprised there wasn’t a second piece in the puzzle for Edmonton. Adam Larsson, I don’t see play live a whole pile, but he is a defence first, second and third guy. He moves the puck OK. He skates fine. He’s not a speed burner, but he skates fine. He’s not going to score a lot… but it’s really difficult to get a handle on what Adam Larsson is yet because the first couple of years in New Jersey he didn’t play very much.

On a crazy day where Steven Stamkos signing in Tampa Bay could arguably be the third-biggest hockey story, the most unanswered question has to be: “Why couldn’t Montreal and Edmonton work out a Taylor Hall-P.K. Subban deal?”

The Oilers sure could’ve used Subban. We knew they were talking last week. Montreal initially asked for Leon Draisaitl, the No. 4 pick at Friday’s draft and more. That “more” included either Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse, plus something else. I can’t nail down what that “something else” was, but it was not insignificant. It was a big price to pay, and Edmonton did not want to do that.

According to several sources, there was another possibility — without Draisaitl. Was Hall there? I can’t say for sure. But I do think he’s got fans in the Montreal organization. So, why didn’t it happen?

Here’s a quote from a GM on a different team: “How much are you paying Connor McDavid in two years? If you’re budgeting for $10M-11M, that’s $19M-$20M for him and Subban. Can you do it under this tighter cap?”

I would suspect that’s the reason.

With McDavid’s next contract potentially massive, Peter Chiarelli looked elsewhere. The Hall-for-Adam Larsson deal saves Edmonton more than $1.8M in cap room. No doubt that’s why it was a one-for-one trade. New Jersey GM Ray Shero could say, “I’m adding salary, I’m not giving up anything else.” He took a hard line.

The Devils pulled off a heist of notable proportions in acquiring young marquee left winger Taylor Hall from the Oilers in exchange for promising young defenseman Adam Larsson.

The Devils entered the offseason with a top-five goaltender in Cory Schneider, a young and relatively deep defense and an admirable work ethic but also facing a huge talent gap at forward between themselves and the best teams in the East.

This deal in which general manager Ray Shero — who when at Pittsburgh acquired Chris Kunitz from Anaheim for Ryan Whitney and James Neal and Matt Niskanen from Dallas for Alex Goligoski — added the 24-year-old Hall from Edmonton goes a long way to addressing that gap.

Hall, the first overall selection of the 2010 entry draft, is a speed-and-skill winger who plays with an edge and can put the puck in the net, getting 26 goals with 39 assists last season. Of all those high-end lottery picks that came before Conor McDavid a year ago, Hall owns the most formidable game.

"That's something that happens in the game in the heat of battle and the refs have to do their job. For our team and for Lars I was just trying to get a clear-cut explanation on why the reaction was so severe," Hynes explained after the Devils' 4-3 overtime win.

"It's a difficult play for referees to call in motion, but our perception was that it was a fair play."

They're everywhere in the NHL these days, young Swedish defensemen who have been influenced by Nicklas Lidstrom, the legendary Detroit Red Wings defenseman.

Back when Peter Forsberg was at his best, most young hockey players from Sweden wanted to be like him, a forward. But then Lidstrom started collecting Stanley Cup titles and Norris Trophy wins and Olympic gold, and that all changed.

"You look around the League and see all the young [Swedish] defensemen," Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said. "When you grew up in Sweden before Nicklas became the player he was, everybody wanted to be a forward. When he played his best, the most skilled guys back home wanted to be like him and play defense. Our best players are defensemen."

Now there is Victor Hedman in Tampa Bay, John Klingberg in Dallas, Jonas Brodin in Minnesota, Hampus Lindholm in Anaheim, Adam Larsson in New Jersey, Mattias Ekholm in Nashville.

There are also a couple dandies in Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators and Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes.

Ekman-Larsson led all NHL defensemen with 23 goals last season, two more than Karlsson, a two-time Norris Trophy winner. Lidstrom had the record for most goals by a Swedish defenseman in a season at 20. But then Ekman-Larsson and Karlsson zoomed on by.

"Every D-man who comes from Sweden has watched him play," Ekman-Larsson, 24, said. "He was my idol growing up and he's the reason I started to play 'D.'

No New Jersey player reached the 50-point mark last season and only two (Adam Henrique and Mike Cammalleri) recorded at least 40 points. Acquiring forward Kyle Palmieri in a trade with Anaheim over the summer does help matters, but offensively the Devils look like a long-term project that has only barely begun. Years from now, perhaps Pavel Zacha, who was taken with the sixth overall pick, will be a serious scoring threat, but for now New Jersey doesn’t have much in the way of young, NHL-ready forwards.

Stefan Matteau might establish himself as an NHL regular at the age of 21, but the 2012 first-round pick has never been a major contributor offensively. There’s always the chance that Henrique, 25, will take a step forward, but his career-high remains 51 points from his rookie season when he was working with Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk. There’s clearly no one at that level for him to play off of at this time.

The good news is that the Devils’ situation looks less bleak when you move past their offense as in contrast, the blueline’s rebuild seems to be moving along nicely. Adam Larsson took a significant step forward last season and the hope is that he’ll lead the charge along with Eric Gelinas, Jon Merrill, and Damon Severson. The oldest of them, Gelinas, only celebrated his 24th birthday in May.

Then of course there’s their goaltending, which is in the capable hands of Cory Schneider. He demonstrated last season under trying circumstances that the Devils’ goalie situation remains their strength, even in the post-Martin Brodeur era.

The New Jersey Devils today re-signed defenseman Adam Larsson to a six-year contract with an average annual value of $4,166,666.67. The salary breakdown is as follows: 2015-16: $2,500,000; 2016-17: $3,000,000; 2017-18: $4,500,000; 2018-19: $4,850,000; 2019-20: $5,050,000; and 2020-21: $5,100,000. The announcement was made by Devils’ General Manager Ray Shero.

“The Devils’ Adam Larsson and Adam Henrique will be among the 27 top NHL rookie prospects in attendance at the MasterCard Centre outside Toronto on Tuesday, Aug. 30 for the 2011 NHLPA Rookie Showcase.”

When the New Jersey Devils selected Patrik Elias with the 51st pick in the 1994 NHL entry draft, I don’t think they knew the type of player he would blossom into. Coming from HC Kladno, Elias wasn’t exactly putting up points that would make your head spin. However, the Devils saw something in the Czech winger and decided to role the dice. Many successful seasons later, Elias is one of the best Devils to ever put on the sweater.

I will provide some of the highlights from the Devils portion on 30 In 30 from the NHL per Mike Morreale.

“The New Jersey Devils couldn’t catch a break in the first half of the 2010-11 season, even after the summertime re-signing of Russian superstar Ilya Kovalchuk to a mammoth 15-year, $100 million contract that took nearly the entire summer to complete.

Instead, they suffered subpar performances under new coach John MacLean, lost star forward Zach Parise to injury 12 games into the season, saw Kovalchuk struggle in the early going, and found themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference at 9-22-2 by the time Christmas rolled around.

It was around that time General Manager Lou Lamoriello opted to fire MacLean and rehire Jacques Lemaire in a last-ditch effort to qualify for the playoffs.”

True, the Kovy ordeal did seem to be a major distraction to the team. John MacLean also seemed lost in the shuffle of being the coach for that year. His attention was not entirely on the team as it needed to be, and the results showed on the ice. I had a lot of friends who follow the Devils point out the same thing. He wasn’t able to coach the team the way you thought he was going too. Lou made the decsion he thought he had too, and it worked to an extent. They didn’t make the playoffs, but they certainly improved. If Parise was healthy, they would have definitely contended for the eight seed that year.

All reports are looking as if Adam Larsson SHOULD be NHL ready come this season. He was playing solid defense during training camp for the Devils, and his work ethic seemed to be ready to make the big jump. He could be a big asset for the Devils on the blue line, who will need to be more consistent this year in order to have a good season. The Devils will be happy with an uneventful season in regards to the media surrounding the team, as long as it means that they are winning.

I would not be surprised if the Devils move Larsson down to Albany for the first month or so if he is not ready to go right from the start. If he gets a little seasoning on him in Albany, it should speed up the process to move him back up to Newark. I do not see him playing for the Swedish Elite League; the Devils want to hold onto this ace in their hand. Devils fans will be hoping for nothing but positives from Larsson, as I feel he could have a lot of qualities which will make him become a true fan favorite, especially since he is so young.

The Devils seemed to be all smiles this past NHL Entry Draft when it came time for their selection with the number four overall pick. Originally contesting to be the number one overall pick, Adam Larsson, was still on the board. With a Devils defense which was not what it once was, any major boost was a major bonus.

The upside to Larsson is huge, and the downside is minimal, making the pick a no-brainer move. It has been quite a few years since the Devils had the devastating services of Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer. Those names are synonymous with the Devils Stanley Cup victories, and fans will be hoping to add Adam Larsson’s name to that list of synonyms.

Well that time of year has arrived again!
No, not Santa Claus bringing home the goods.
No, this is better, well at least for one international hockey team that can wrest World Junior Hockey Gold from its opponents.
I’d love to hear any predictions on who will win gold.
In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great holiday season with their loved ones!